F 279 
.C4 C44 
Copy 1 



ARLESTON, 

South Carolina. 



The Leading Port for Western, 
Central and South American, 
West Indian, and 

European Trade. 



Position, Facilities and 

Unequalled Advantages. 



Published by c^^^^y 

THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, 

1880. 



3»*j-. 



CHARLESTON, 



South Carolina 



The Advantaoes of tlic City of Charleston 

AS A 

FORT (IF IMFORTANl) EXFORT 

FOR 

THF TRADE AND COMMERCE 

OF THE 

Northwestern States of the United States, 

AND OF 

Central and Sonth America, 

The West Indies, and Enrope. 



THE RILPORT OF A SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF 
THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, PRESENT- 
ED AND ADOPTED MARCH 29, 1880. 



CIIARLESTOX, S. C 

TIIK NKWS AND COUKIKR HOdK PRESSES, 
1880. 



THE REPORT 



To the Chamber of Commerce of Charleston : 

The Special Committee appointed by the Chamber of 
Commerce for the purpose of exhibiting the varied advan- 
tages of the City of Charleston, as a port of import and ex- 
port for the trade and commerce of the Northwestern Cities 
and States of the United States, and of Central and South 
America, the West Indies and Europe, beg leave to submit 
the following preliminary report, in the hope that it will 
have the effect of directing public attention here and else- 
where to this important subject. 

Fifty years have passed since South Carolina first pro- 
jected the building of a line of railroad to connect this City 
with the great food-producing region of the Northwest. 
Upon the uncompleted Blue Ridge Railroad, and upon 
distant lines in Tennessee expected to be connected with 
the South Carolina system of railroads, this State and City 
have expended, at different times, several million of dollars. 
The breaking out of the war alone prevented the completion 
of the Blue Ridge line, and the State, in 1865, found herself 
without the Western connections to which the people had 
looked forward for thirty years, while the railroads in the 
State were worn out or shattered. The first task was to 
reconstruct and equip the roads already in operation, but at 
no time, early or late, has there been an abandonment of 
the hope and purpose to carry out the plans which our far- 
sighted citizens proposed in the earliest days of railroad 
building in the United States. 

From the beginning of American railroad history the 
objective point was the great grain-growing region of the 



West. Before that time produce and manufactures were 
liauled in wagons or followed the water-courses. The great 
tide of immigration had not set in, and States now teeming 
with population and overflowing with agricultural wealth 
were on the outer limit of civilization. The States of Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, 
Kansas and Nebraska had a population of a million and a 
half, and were barely self-supporting. To-day a net work of 
eighty-one thousand miles of railroad covers the country, 
and the States we have named have a population of thirteen 
million souls, who, in commerce and in agriculture, are con- 
spicuously active, clear-sighted and enterprising. 

The first Atlantic City which succeeded in reaching the 
mine of commercial wealth in the West was New York. 
This was effected by the Erie Canal, which was completed 
in 1825. The products of the West then began to find an 
outlet at New York. Twenty-five years later no iron road 
had yet crossed the mountain barriers which separate the 
seaboard from the great heart of the Continent, and the 
movement of the Western products was confined to trans- 
portation upon the great rivers that drain into the Gulf of 
Mexico. Still with each succeeding year the flood of agri- 
cultural v.ealth rose higher, being swelled by the unceasing 
influx of population and the improvenients in Tigricultural 
appliances which enabled one man to do the work of many. 
The first railroad that penetrated to the West was the New 
York and Erie. Next came the New York Central. The 
result of their completion and of the operations of the Erie 
Canal is startling and encouraging. 

In the year 1859 the total tonnage moved East and West 
by the Erie and Central Roads and the Erie Canal was 
5,500,000 tons. In 1869 it had increased to 12,500,000 
tons, and in 18/8 it reached 19,500,000 tons. The tonnage 
of vessels entered at the Port of New York increased in 
the same proportion. In 1859 it was 1,890,000; in 1869, 
3,100,000, and in 1879, 6,661,825 tons. The imports and 
exports of New York City for the same periods were as 
follows: In i860, $354,000,000; in 1870, $504,000,000. and 
n 1879, $653,000,000. 



Philadelphia was the next Atlantic City to tap the West- 
ern reservoir, and we accordingly find that the tonnage 
of vessels entered at that port gradually increased from 
156,000 tons in 1858, to 278,000 tons in 1868, and 1,315,649 
tons in 1 879, while the import and export trade kept pace with 
the tonnage. In i860 it amounted to $20,000,000; in 1870 
to $31,500,000, and in 1879 to $71,000,000. 

Baltimore was the next in the race, and, having overcome 
all difficulties and pushed her splendidly equipped roads 
across the mountains, rapidly gained on her next-door rival. 
We find that the tonnage of Baltimore, which had fallen off 
during the war from 225,000 tons in i86r, to 88,000 tons in 
1865, rose again quickly, and was 216,000 tons in 1868, 
558,000 tons in 1874, and 1,374,554 tons in 1879. The imports 
and exports advanced from <|8, 500,000 in i860 to $34,000,000 
in 1870, $57,000,000 in 1875, and $71,500,000 in 1879. 

Boston has been the last of our Atlantic ports to reap 
the benefit of Western trade. Shut out by an almost im- 
passable barrier, Boston began, more than thirty years ago, 
to cut her way through mountains that could neither be sur- 
mounted nor passed around. Only within the last three 
years has she completed her masterpiece of engineering 
skill — the Hoosac Tunnel — but already she has felt the effect 
of her perseverance. The tonnage which had remained al- 
most stationary for over twenty years, being 708,000 tons in 
1855, and 752,000 in 1877, suddenly began to improve, reach- 
ing 938,000 in 1878, and 1,137,000 in 1879. The import 
trade of Boston so far shows no improvement, remaining 
about $40,000,000 per annum. The export trade already 
feels the effect of the new connection. From $13,500,000 
in i860 it declined to $12,000,000 in 1870, but rose to 
$29,000,000 in 1875, and $48,000,000 in 1879. 

The figures we have given demonstrate the vast profit 
sure to be enjoyed by ports which have direct and indepen- 
dent through lines to the West ; and it is not indispensable 
that the new routes seeking Western business should be 
powerful enough to deprive established lines of their traffic. 
There is room for all. The five great trunk roads in the 



United States with the Eric Canal and the Canada South- 
ern arc Inadequate to the demands of the Western trade, 
and unable to carry Eastward as rapidly and regularly as is 
desirable the surplus produce of the West. The difficulty 
will increase if the accommodations be not enlarged. The 
land now under cultivation bears but a small proportion to 
the area still in a state of nature, and, with steady and in- 
creasing immigration from Europe and the Eastern States 
of the Union, it is not extravagant to assume that the pro- 
ducts of the West wall more than double in amount during 
the next twenty years. What has been done is shown in 
the following figures : The production of corn and wheat 
in the States West of the Mississippi in 1849 ^^''^s 5,250,000 
bushels; in 1859, 25,000,000 bushels; in 1869, 89,000,000, 
and in 1877. 152,000,000 bushels. Twenty-five years ago no 
railroad had been completed from the seaboard to that river. 
In 1875 there were thirteen railroad bridges crossing the 
river, North of St. Eouis, which had been built at a cost of 
over $2o',ooo,ooo ; and in that year 2,344,354 tons of freight 
crossed those bridges going East. In 1878, 3,554,838 tons 
crossed in the same direction, showing an increase in three 
years of over 1,200,000 tons a year. 

Let us see what this annual increase would do for one City 
on the seaboard, should it get the whole of it. It would 
give it ten trains of forty cars, each car carrying ten tons of 
freight, every day, for three hundred days, or 4,000 tons each 
day, and w^ould require four vessels of one thousand tons 
every day to remove it. 

Is not this a prize worth striving for? Shall Charleston 
remain inactive while every other City and port on the 
Atlantic and Gulf is making the most strenuous efforts to 
obtain it ? 

There is now a favorable opportunity for the construction 
of additional lines of communication, and there are special 
reasons why the great West now looks more keenly than 
ever to the ports of the South Atlantic coast. 

From Alabama to Virginia, a distance of more than 400 
miles, only one line of railroad connects the railroad systems 



of the Northwest and the Southeast. It is a necessity to 
the different combinations now forming for the development 
of Western and Southern business that there should be at 
least one other line of railroad connecting the West with 
the South Atlantic. Unless this be had, each and every 
Western line, whatever its wealth and its necessities, can be 
choked off from communication with the South Atlantic b}' 
any company which has control of the single line from 
Chattanooga to Atlanta. It is a geographical necessity that 
the new and independent line shall pass East of Chatta- 
nooga ; and there are substantial and obvious reasons why 
the terminal point should be Charleston in preference to any 
other South Atlantic port. Of the general advantages of 
Charleston we shall speak hereafter. The special import- 
ance of this City, now and in the future, is in connection 
with the markets of Central and South America and the 
West Indies, to which the West must look for a market 
when Europe shall cease or be unable to consume her sur- 
plus productions. 

In the West Indies and the States of Central and South 
America, there is a population of forty-two millions, living 
in lands unsuitable to the production of breadstuffs and 
meat and the manufacture of clothing, but producing in 
abundance coffee, sugar, fruit, tobacco and other articles of 
almost universal consumption in this country. They have 
what we need, and we produce what they require. In the 
interchange of the products of such countries, for the pro- 
ducts of the Northwestern States, is the surest road to per- 
manent and progressive commercial prosperity. 

The countries we have described now import yearly from 
Europe and America provisions and other articles to the 
value of $356,000,000. Of this amount the United States 
supply only $61,000,000. The exports of these countries 
amount to $438,000,000, out of which the United States 
take and consume $150,000,000. The United States, there- 
fore, pay to these countries $89,000,000 in cash annuall}' as 
the difference between what wc buy and what we sell ; while 
Europe sells these countries every year products valued at 



$295,000,000, and takes from them in return their produc- 
tions to the value of $288,000,000. What Europe now does 
the United States can, and, we trust, will ultimately do. 

The bulk of the shipments from the Northwest to Central 
and South America and the West Indies now go by way of 
Boston, New York or Baltimore ; and our imports from those 
countries take the same circuitous route. It need not be 
explained that time and cost of transportation are essential 
considerations in opening new channels of trade. In this 
aspect Charleston has surprising advantages as a substitute 
for Northern ports. 

The distance from Havana to Cincinnati by way of Charles- 
ton is 300 miles less than by way of Baltimore, 500 miles 
less than by way of New York, and 900 miles less than b}' 
way of Boston. Taking St. Louis as the Western terminus, 
the gain in distance is greater by about 150 miles. Charles- 
ton has the same advantage as regards the whole of the 
West Indies and Central and South America. This, it 
should be remembered, is on the basis of the lines of rail- 
road already completed. The building of the short links 
now wanting East and West of the Blue Ridge would in- 
crease the saving in distance more than 100 miles, and the 
new lines would pass through the heart of one of the richest 
countries in minerals in the United States — a region whose 
resources are to-day imperfectly known and entirely unde- 
veloped. It should be noted also that the completion of 
the Carolina system of the Western railroads, whether by 
the old Blue Ridge route to Walhalla and Knoxville or by 
the Asheville route to Wolf Creek and Morristown, will be 
an extension of roads running through a settled countr}- al- 
ready enjoying a large and profitable business and able to 
contribute to the support of the sections of road to be built, 
or towards sustaining the work until completed. The lines 
which run from Charleston to the Northwest do not need 
Western connections merely to make them profitable, for their 
local and through business is already extensive. They look 
forward to Western trade as the great East and West lines 
of the North have done, as a means of doubling and cjuad- 
rupling their business. 



fl 



We have shown that it will be of immense adv^antagc to 
Charleston to secure direct connection with the West, and 
we have shown likewise that it is to the interest of the 
Western States to prepare at once to obtain an additional 
port of entry and export as a means of reaching the markets 
which have been hitherto practically monopolized by Europe. 
Charleston, we are satisfied, should be this new port, inasmuch 
as it has special and peculiar advantages over other Critics. 

The Gulf ports, for example, cannot compete successful!)- 
with Charleston, although to some port on the Gulf the 
West has been accustomed to look for an outlet for its pro- 
duce and manufactures, receiving by the same channel West 
Indian and South American produce. To Charleston the 
voyage is less perilous, and insurance and other charges are 
much less at Charleston than on the Gulf. The West more- 
over has a large and growing trade with Europe, and for this 
trade, as compared with the Gulf ports, Charleston has no 
equal. By sailing vessel the usual run from Charleston to 
British ports is ten days less than from New Orleans. This 
difference alone is sufficient to make it to the interest of the 
West to trade through Charleston instead of sending pro- 
duce a greater distance to the Gulf to make a longer voyage 
by sea. Charleston has the shorter line both ways. 

For European trade Charleston is upon as good a footing 
as the ports to the Northward ; and as the use of steamships 
becomes more general any minor advantages the Northern 
ports now possess will be done away with. Inward freights 
are low, inasmuch as the bulk of the present freight move- 
ment is outward. Emigrants can be brought into Charles- 
ton in safety and comfort at all seasons, and have a pleasanter 
as well as less dangerous voyage than by the Northern routes. 

For European trade of any kind, in comparison with the 
Gulf ports, vessels trading with Charleston escape the dan- 
gers and delays of the Florida reefs ; and for the West 
Indian trade, as compared with Northern ports, vessels 
trading with Charleston are free from the hazards or dis- 
comforts of storm-bound Hatteras. 

Charleston, moreover, is on the sea. The deep water be- 
2 



10 

yond the bar is only six miles from the City. Within the 
land-locked harbor, ^\'ith deep water to the wharves, is ample 
room for the whole shipping of New York. The Ashley 
and Cooper Ri\x'rs, broad and deep, extend for miles along 
the peninsula on which Charleston is built. The wharves 
at the Eastern side of the City ha\'e, at present, accommo- 
dation for fully two hundred vessels of average size. There is 
storage room for 600.000 bales of cotton, as well as rice, 
naval stores, Src. Five cotton presses are in operation with 
a capacity of 5,000 to 7,000 bales a day. Last year they 
compressed 410,000 bales of cotton. Charleston has three 
rice mills, A\ith a capacity of 230 tierces of 600 pounds each 
per day. Last year they pounded 51,000 tierces. Excel- 
lent sites, however, are available for the erection of elevators 
and other structures recjuired for the economical handling 
of bulky freight. These can be found, with deep water, on 
both sides of the City. The Legislature has authorized the 
construction of a canal to connect the Cooper and Ashley 
Rivers above the City, and along this canal, whenever it shall 
become necessary, accommodation can be given to through 
freights equal to what Baltimore has and New York needs. 

The population of the City is over 56,000. A more 
equable climate is not to be found outside of the most 
fa\'ored regions of Italy. The health of the City is remark- 
ably good, and there are none of the malarious fevers with 
which riparian ports are apt to be afflicted. The markets 
are well supplied at every season of the year. The Public 
Schools are old established and well managed. The credit 
of the Cit}^ is high, and the administration of the City 
government is in the hands of a Mayor and City Council who 
enjoy the entire confidence of the community, and conduct 
the municipal government as they manage their own affairs. 

The banking facilities are sufficient for the present busi- 
ness of the City, and capable of indefinite expansion. The 
supply of labor is abundant at reasonable rates. The man- 
ufacturing business of the City is large and increasing, and 
in the one article of fertilizers the production here this 
season \v\\\ be o\'er 55,000 tons. 



11 



Charleston, it must al\\"a)'s be remembered, is already an 
important City, transacting a large business. The shipments 
of phosphate rock, mined in South Carolina, amounted last 
year to 199,365 tons; and the receipts at this port of the 
principal staples for the year ending September, 1879, were 
as follows : Cotton, 502,995 bales ; rice, 40,000 tierces ; 
naval stores, 304,000 barrels; lumber, 13,000,000 feet. The 
value of the foreign exports last year was $19,607,897. 

The single drawback in Charleston is the comparative 
shallowness of the water on the bar. There are, at present, 
about eighteen feet of water on the bar at high tide, but 
the National Jetties in process of construction by the United 
States government, under the direction of General O. A. 
Gillmore, will increase the depth of water to at least twent)'- 
six feet, making Charleston incomparably the finest port and 
harbor on the South Atlantic. 

To make Charleston fully available for Western business, 
it is only necessary to complete the lines of railway to 
Knoxville. (3n the Blue Ridge Road there are 156 miles to 
be completed, counting the Knoxville and Maryville line as 
finished. A large part of the grading and tunnelling has 
been done. To complete the Spartanburg route, it is only 
necessary to fill the gap of 6^ miles between Wolf Creek 
and Hendersonville, the present terminus of the Spartan- 
burg and Asheville Railroad. About half of the grading 
has been done. The projected Atlantic and French Broad 
Railroad, from Belton to Asheville, is 96 miles long ; the 
grades are easy, and only three bridges, the largest of them 
100 feet in length, will be needed. 

The principal distances from Charleston by the different 
routes are as follows : 

rRESEXT ROUTE. 

Miles. 

Charleston to Augusta 137 

Augusta to Atlanta 171 

Atlanta to Chattanooga 138 

Chattanooga to Cincinnati 336 

Total distance 782 



J 2 

BLUE RIDGE ROUTE. 

Miles. 

Charleston to Columbia i 30 

Columbia to Walhalla 159 

Wallialla to Mai-yvillc (unfinished) I 56 

Maryville to Knoxville 16 

Knoxvillc to Cincinnati, \\i\ New River and Careyville. .281 

Total distance 742 

FRENCH BROAD ROUTE. 

Miles. 

Atlaritic and 1^'rench Broad Railroad, from Helton to \ 

Asheville (projected) ) ^ 

Ashevillc to Wolf Creek 40 

Wolf Creek to Knoxville 80 

Total distance ■ 216 

ASHEVILLE ROUTE. 

Miles. 

Charleston to Columbia 130 

Columbia to Spartanburg^ 93 

Spartanburg to Hendersonxille 49 

Hciidcrsoiivillc to Wolf Creek (unfinished) 63 

Wolf Creek to Morristown 39 

Morristown to Knoxville 41 

Knox\ille to Cincinnati 281 

Total distance 696 

The construction of a line from Greenwood, or Ninety-Six, 
to Aiken, or some adjacent point on the South Carolina 
Railroad, will shorten considerably the distance from Charles- 
ton to W^alhalla, and Knoxville. In like manner, the build- 
ing of a line from Morristown to London, Kentuck)-, will 
shorten considerably the Asheville route to the W^est. 

The Committee are well aware that Charleston cannot 
expect to achieve, without difficulty, the commanding posi- 



tion which should be hers. Other and rival Cities are vigor- 
ously at work. In most of the recent combinations which 
have been made, Charleston is not considered. It will be a 
work of time and labor to convince the Western people that 
their interests lie in this direction ; and it will take some 
time also to secure that co-operation within the State which 
is indispensable to our success. The Committee feel, there- 
fore, that a report which will be simply read and then laid 
aside will be of comparatively little value. In their judg- 
ment, what is needed is such an exhibit of Charleston's 
position and advantages, as can be kept constantly in sight, 
impressing itself steadily and persistently upon the attention 
of the merchant and the railroad operator. With this view, 
they have decided to prepare an elaborate map showing the 
railroad lines, built or projected, from Charleston to every 
part of the United States, and the position of this port in 
relation to the trade of the West Indies and South America. 
With this will be given a plan of Charleston and its sur- 
roundings, showing its water front and wharf accommoda- 
tions, its proximity to the ocean, the capacity of the harbor 
and the depth of water, the adjacent towns and islands, the 
lines of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers and of the Canal 
which is to connect them, the location of the truck and vege- 
table farms, and the line of the National Jetties now under 
construction. Upon the face of the map will be given such 
statistics as will demonstrate the importance of the trade 
with South America and the West Indies; and set forth 
clearly the various advantages and opportunities of Charles- 
ton as a port of export and import. This map will be dis- 
tributed carefully and systematically throughout the United 
States, and in the West Indies and South America; and, in 
the opinion of the Committee, will have a permanent and 
growing value, giving a better idea of Charleston and its' 
surroundings than can be furnished by any bare description. 
The attention bestowed upon it will account, the Committee 
trust, for the lack of detail which necessarily characterizes 
the present report, which is intended, more than anythin^i- 
else, as assurance to the Chamber of Commerce and the 



It 

iniblic, that the work entrusted to us is in progress and will 
be speedily completed. 

A. SIMONDS, Chainiiaii. 
\V. L. TRENHOLM. 
F. W. DAWSON. 
II. T. WILLIAMS. 
J. S. MURDOCH. 
C. F. HANCKEL. 



The report was unaninioush' adopted, and the Committee 
were instructed to provide for its juiblication in pamphlet 
form for general distributio'i. 

S. V. TUPPER, 
P. J. Barhot, President. 

Svcrclarv. 



APPENDIX. 



The subjoined letter of the Hon. D. R. Duncan, President 
of the Spartanburg and Asheville Raih'oad, dated February 
6, 1880, shows the grades on the Hue, the actual operations 
of the road, and the \\-ork remaining to be done. 

[Letter oe President Dincax in The News and Cderiek.] 

The following in TriE News and Courikr of the 4th 
instant is what appears to be an editorial : 

[From The Pickens Sentinel.] 

" The newspapers are discussing the probability of re\'i\-- 
ing the old Blue Ridge route and the completion of the 
Spartanburg and Asheville Road. As to the latter, we be- 
lieve it will be completed, as there are only a few miles of 
grading to finish between Henderson and Asheville, and 
the road is already running to the former place. Rut with 
a maximum grade of 237 (the lowest estimate) feet to the 
mile for five miles over the mountains, for all practical pur- 
poses this road is a failure. This is acknowledged by nearh' 
all competent engineers." 

Our friend then goes on hopefully to discuss the construc- 
tion of the Atlantic and French Broad Valley Railroad from 
Belton to Asheville. We shall certainly rejoice in the reali- 
zation of the most sanguine expectations expressed in re- 
gard to this line. Every citizen should heartily endorse, 
and, as far as he is able, assist in efforts to construct, any 
and all lines having for their object the development of the 
resources and the natural welfare of the State ; ancl no pet 
schemes, local interests or prejudices should intervene in the 



It) 



consiinimation of any great and Avorthy public enterprise. 
We do not believe for a moment that our neighbor, the Sen- 
tinel, intentionally misstates the facts in reference to the 
Spartanburg and Asheville Railroad as given above ; but, all 
the same, its statements mislead. Our friend has only ac- 
cepted as true what he has obtained from some one who 
evidently does not know the facts. The steep grade referred 
to is a small fraction less than three miles, and its average 
grade two hundred and one feet to the mile for that dis- 
tance. The rulin"' and maximum grade on the whole line, 
except this three miles, is less than that of the Augusta and 
Charlotte Air Line and of the lines West and Northwest of 
us. This grade has been operated now for nearly two 
years. An engine with 15 by 22 inch c\'lindcr has been car- 
rying with ease fifty tons net freight over this grade without 
help. An engine with 16 by 24 inch cylinder has carried 
seven hundred passengers in one train, from Spartanburg to 
Hendersonville, N. C, over this grade without help, making 
the trip over the steep grade in fifteen minutes. The sche- 
dule time for the regular daily passenger and mail train, 
with four loaded freight cars attached, drawn by the 15 by 
22 inch c)'linder engine, is sixteen minutes over this steep 
grade. It is also true that this grade exists only one wa\', 
and that going West. There is no corresponding descent on 
the other side ; so that the smaller engine referred to abo\'e 
can carr)' with ease, from Hendersonville, coming South, to 
Spartanburg, thirt)^ loaded cars, and consuming only one 
good fire of wood for thirty miles of the forty-eight miles 
distance between the two points named. An engine of the 
capacity of those which take eighteen cars from Spartanburg 
to Richmond will carry with all ease between thirty and 
thirty-five loaded cars from Hendersonville to Charleston. 
Is this for all "practical purposes" a "failure?" Two emi- 
nent civil engineers, now General Superintendents of lead- 
ing railways in the South, have pronounced it a great suc- 
cess, to say nothing of the Chief Engineer of the road, who 
located the line, and whose superior in mountain work and 
location cannot be found in the Union ; whose achievement 



1? 



in this line has cHcitccl the highest praise from the first meil 
in his profession. No appeal to engineers, however, is no\\' 
necessary; no theory to be discussed. The practical opera- 
tions of the line are offered. The working of the line has 
been safe, economical and regular. During the past summer 
the average number of special excursions was three per 
week, besides the regular mail and freight trains ; and there 
is no record of accident to life or limb since the line was 
opened to the traveling public. 

Every water station on the road is supplied b\' pipes from 
bold springs, and not a single pump is used on the whole 
line. Railroad men know the item saved on this. On the 
steep grade the train is under complete control and manage- 
ment ; is stopped, ascending or descending, and started 
again, on the steepest portion, at the discretion of the en- 
gineer. Nor has the power of the engines ever been fully 
tested on this grade ; the object having been to work the 
line regularly and economically, and, abo\'e all, safely. It is 
not doubted that if the locomotives daily used were. put to 
their full capacity they would largely exceed their present 
work. There has yet been no necessity for this. (Greater 
speed and larger loads, doubtless, in the language of the 
Engineer, might be permitted with success; but the polic\' 
has been to work the track -with perfect safet}', to risk 
nothing, and " to obtain and hold the public confidence." 
It behooved us to build cheapl\-, but we have built well. 
Interested railroad capitalists and of^cials of the Northwest 
and West, who have not long since passed over the line, 
have said that they did not doubt the wisdom and expedi- 
ency of retaining for all time to come this grade, rather than 
to expend the $300,000 necessary to get the grade of seven 
feet to the mile. Comparatively little remains to be done 
to complete the line — only nine and three-quarter miles of 
grading, which responsible bidders have offered to take at 
$4,000 per mile. Between Asheville and Wolf Creek, the 
terminus of the Cincinnati, Cumberland Gap and Charleston 
Railroads, now operated b\- the East Tennessee, Virginia 
and Georgia Railroad, the distance is fort\'-two miles, over 



18 



(inc-third of which is graded. Work will be resumed on 
this portion before summer, and when finished, and the 
^■rading is not hea\-)', connection is then made with Knox- 
ville. 



The following" letter, published in the Cincinnati Com- 
mercial, and dated March 17, 1880, describes the projected 
route from Emery Gap to Charleston : 

/'7/'.v/. I assume that the City of Cincinnati havini;" built 
a first-class road, with low (grades and easy curves, deserves 
a connection of similar character. It has been proposed to 
connect the Cincinnati Southern with the Knox\'ille and 
Ohio at Care)'ville. A careful survey of all such routes was 
made by Major Earnest Ruhl, of the Cincinnati Southern 
En<^ineer Corps, and he fixed upon the connection at New 
River as the shortest and cheapest. This route he estimates 
to cost $903,500, and is twenty-eight miles in length. It 
uses the old grade bed of the K. & O. R. R. for eight miles, 
and then turns to the Southern Road. It has on its line a 
trestle 1,450 feet long, 500 feet of which is 150 feet high, 
and one tunnel 1,800 feet long and another 600 feet long. 
Suppose this line completed from New River to Care\'ville 
in first-class style, as the Cincinnati Southern, at that point 
connection is made with a road which is not first-class; has 
one grade of four miles length, ninety feet to the mile ; 
part of it on a nine degree reversed curve. So bad are the 
grades on this road that a locomotive starting from Coal 
Creek with sixteen loaded cars has to lea\'e eight of them at 
Heiskell's, twehe miles from Knoxville, pull the other eight 
into Knoxville, and then go back to Heiskell's for the eight 
cars left on first trip ; thus running fift\'-four miles t(^ get 
sixteen cars a distance of thirty miles. 

Again : this road has not been, and is not, controlled b}- 
parties friendl)- to the Cincinnati Southern, and to mak'e a 



1!) 



connection by- tliis route, wliich will at all times accord with 
the Southern road, it must be owned by them or parties in 
their interest. The lowest price for it, heretofore, has been 
$1,000,000, and $1,250,000 was asked in 1874. Hence, to 
make an available connection by this route, Cincinnati, or 
her friends, must spend at least $1,900,500. The connection 
from Emery Gap t(j Knoxville can be completed for $700,000, 
and not have a L,n-ade over sixt}- feet to the mile on the whole 
line. 

As to the PLmery Ciap route — nearly the whole line in a 
valley — there is not a tunnel or a deep cut on it ; two bridges 
of three hundred feet each and one of eight hundred feet, 
and a few short trestles. The line would connect with the 
famous coal lands, at Winter's Gap, on the head waters of 
Poplar Creek, from whence tens of thousands of tons of 
freight would come to go over the Southern road. The 
Coal Creek mines shipped, last yeal', 112,000 tons of coal, 
and from Winter's Gap can be done fully fifty per cent, more 
on account of easy grades and less distance. This line avoids 
the heavy grades of the Knoxville and Ohio, because it 
crosses Clinch River where the stream breaks through Cop- 
per Ridge, wdiich ridge is the most formidable on the Knox- 
ville and Ohio Road. It is entirely broken down and cut 
through by the Clinch River, where the Emery Gap Rail- 
road would cross. This road also strikes one of the richest 
grain-grc^wing and hog-producing sections of East Tennessee. 

Miles. 

Erom Cincinnati to New River 215 

Erom New River to Careyville 28 

Erom Care)'ville to Knoxville 38 



Total 28 



I^'rom Cincinnati to Emer\' (lap 258 

l^'rom Emery Gap to Knoxville " 44 

Total ^02 

Difference of di,stance in favor of Careyville, 21 miles. 



Difference of train of sixteen cars, in favor of Emery Gap, 
24 miles. 

Difference of cost in favor of Emery Gap, $1,200,000. 

Both routes I assume to connect at Knoxville with the 
Hlue Ridge Raih'oad, which is now certain to be built, and 
is surveyed to be built with a maximum grade of sixty feet 
to the mile. Hence beyond Knoxville we shall compare 
with other lines via Chattanooga, placing the distance from 
Cincinnati to Knoxville as three hundred and two miles, 
while it is realK' more in train miles b\' the Knoxx'ille and 
Ohio route. 

Miles. 

Erom Cincinnati to Knoxville 302 

Erom Knoxville to Toccoa (on A. & C. Air Eine) 153 

Erom Toccoa to Augusta 110 

h'rom Augusta to Charleston 137 

h'rom Cincinnati to Charleston, via Knoxville and Blue 

Ridge Road 702 

l-'rom Cincinnati to Charleston, via Atlanta 774 

h'rom Cincinnati to Savannah, via Atlanta 759 

I'rom Louisx'ille to Charle\ston, via Atlanta 788 

I'^-om Eouisville to Savannah, via Atlanta '/'J2 

It is, therefore, plainly to be seen that the best route from 
Cincinnati to the sea is via Knoxville and the J^lue Ridge 
Railroad, and that the cheapest and best route from Cincin- 
nati is via Emery Gap. The terminus of the Blue Ridge 
Road has been made at Toccoa, because the moves on foot 
will cause it to be built to that place, and thence to Augusta. 
The A. & C. Air Eine have a road already built nearly half 
the distance to Augusta. 



The annexed estimate of the cost of completing the l^lue 
Ridge Railroad, as made by Colonel Gwynn, the Chief En- 
gineer of that road, in i860, is taken from the report made 



2\ 



b\- the President of the roiid, J. W. Harrison, Esq., in 1868, 
to Governor ()rr : 

In South Carolina, from Walhalla to Georgia Line 22 miles, .'?76i,2iS 

In Georgia, from South Carolina Line to North Carolina 

Line 17 miles, 734,333 

In North Carolina, from Georgia f.ineto Tennessee Line. .80 miles, 2,173,338 

In Tennessee, from North C'arolina Line to Maryville 37 miles, 879,706 

Total 156 miles, §^4, 548, 595 

In South CaroHna, the Stump House Mountain Tunnel, 
5863 feet in length, is about three-fourths completed. Of 
the other two tunnels in this State, one, the Middle Tunnel, 
is pierced through, and the other, the Saddle Tunnel, 6i6 
feet in length, is about half done. 

In Georgia, the expensive part of the road lies between 
Chattanooga and Clayton, haying to tunnel through the 
dividing ridges, and, being upon a high level, much ex- 
cavation and embankment is encountered. On reaching 
Rabun Gap, two and three-quarter miles West of Clayton, 
the difficulties of the road are overcome, and the line passes 
into the valley of the Tennessee Ri\er, upon a level with 
the Gap. 

In North Carolina, the road is laid in the valley of the 
Little Tennessee River, which is remarkably free from the 
high cliffs that characterize every other water-course on the 
Western slope of the Alleghany Mountains, and, taken as a 
whole, presents a very favorable route. The passage of the 
Smoky Mountains, which comprises a distance of twelve 
miles (three miles in North Caroliaia and nine in Tennessee), 
involves less expense than was expected. But one cliff ex- 
tends into the river, and that is passed by a tunnel of one 
hundred feet, with approaches requiring cuttings of about 
thirty-five hundred cubic yards. 

In Tennessee, after passing thrtnigh the Smok)' Moun- 
tains no difficulty of any note occurs. Upon the whole of 
the road, going from East to West, there will be no grade 
exceeding seventy feet to the mile, and from West to East, 



tlic direction of the hcax'icst traffic, there will Ije no L;rade 
exceedin<^ forty-five feet to the mile ; whereas, the i^rades 
Lacing Eastward on other roads are as follows: 

Virginia ar.d Tennessee 68 feet to the mile. 

Virginia Central 'jz feet to the mile. 

Baltimore and (_)hio i 16 feet to the mile. 

Pennsylvania Central 53 feet to the mile. 

Sunbury and Erie 52 feet to tlie mile. 

New York and Erie 60 feet to the mile. 



The following extracts from the letter of an officer of the 
Atlantic and P^'ench I'^road Railroad, dated April 3d, will 
be read with interest : 

This road, when completed, will accomplish the much- 
desired and much-needed Western connection. The distance 
from Asheville to Wolf Creek is only 41 miles, and will be 
completed to Asheville by the first day of May. 1881. This 
leaves only 96 miles from Helton to Asheville, which is more 
favorably situated than any other route, either completed 
or projected, through the Blue Ridge, the actual cost of 
which will not be one-fifth that of completing the old l^Iue 
Ridge route. 

This railroiid, from Belton to iVsheville, lias ordy three 
bridges, and the longest of these is onb/ 100 feet. This is 
remarkable, but nevertheless it is true. It passes the Blue 
Ridge, and touches the Erench Broad Valley with a maxi- 
mum grade of 65 feet per mile. The mountains are rent 
asunder at the terminus of the ridge, dividing the waters of 
the Saluda and Savannah Rivers. The gorge in the moun- 
tains is a remarkable natural result, and will do more towards 
completing railroad connections with the WA^st than an\- 
previous discover)'. 



The distance b\' the Atlantic and French Broad route via 
Asheville is 7 miles shorter, and only 96 miles of road to 
build, which will not cost one-fifth that of the l^lue Ridge 
route. P^ither route is shorter to Charleston by the Green- 
wood and Augusta Road than b\' the Asheville and Spartan- 
burg Road, and b\' building a road from Ninety-Six, on the 
Greenville and Columbia Railroad, to Aiken, on the South 
Carolina Railroad, a distance of 45 or 50 miles, it would be 
still shorter, and not a single bridge from the North Fork 
of the French ]^road, in North Carolina, lo the Fdisto, on 
the South Carolina Railroad. 

This is the most direct route to connect Charleston with 
the West, and its advantages over the Asheville and Spartan- 
burg route are numerous — its easy grades, no streams to 
cross, its passing right down the PVench Broad River, the 
most fertile region in the United States. Its advantages 
are too numerous over the Blue Ridge route, which, I have 
been informed, has thirty-two bridges. If so, they will cost 
more than the entire completion of the Atlantic and French 
Broad Valley Road. The Atlantic and French Broad Road 
has no connection with the State of Georgia, hence her citi- 
zens will be unable to tap it as they would the Blue Ridge 
Road, and con'cinue to carry all of our freights for us, as 
the}' have been doing for the last thirt\- )'ears. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 418 531 6 I 



